Geometric Houses

Students were back to school after a well-deserved break!  We had a great day and everyone seemed ready to get to work.  This afternoon we had Art.  Our new project is related to our Math unit on geometric shapes and objects.

We began by listening to a non-fiction book about shapes in art.  We looked at some paintings on the Smartboard and identified the different shapes that we could see.  Students drew a variety of large shapes (squares, triangles, ovals, rectangles and circles, then looked around the classroom to make "rubbings" of different textures they could find.  They were very creative in their choices:  backs of carpets, chairs, even under the tables (see pictures below).  After colouring, the shapes were cut out and put away for next Art class when we'll be architects and use the shapes to build houses!  Stay tuned.

Using the back of a carpet sample to get an interesting texture.

The underside of the table has a cool texture, too!

The orange chair has a bumpy texture.

Globes and Valentine Collages (Part 2)

Our current unit in Social Studies is all about maps!  Today the students spent some time looking at globes.  We learned that a globe is a model of the Earth, like a ball or sphere (a new word from Math this morning!)  Here are some things that we discovered/learned about globes:

• the water on a globe represents water
• the line around the centre of the Earth is called the Equator
• the bumpy parts on a globe represent mountains
• there are mountains under the oceans too!
• tropical rain forests are found close to the Equator
• not all globes are coloured the same way
• we can find Canada and Saskatchewan on a globe!

Looking at globes in small groups:

           

After all the excitement and business of Hundred Day last week, we finally got around to finishing our Valentine Collages this morning.  Students cut out their own hearts by using the folding method or using tracers, then glued them on a black background.  Students were asked to make different sizes of hearts and use different textures of paper (from our painting last week).

Cutting and arranging hearts

Final products!

Happy Valentine's Day!

100 Day!

Today was the 100th day of school!  Students have been waiting for this day for a long time!  We began the day by counting to 100 and reading poems about 100 day when a strange looking man came to our door - Zero the Hero!  All the grade ones gathered together in the Music Room to watch Zero the Hero do some very cool tricks!

Zero the Hero answering students' questions.  He had a good riddle:  "What did the zero say to the eight?  
Nice belt!"

The hat trick

Students listening attentively!

Zero the Hero doing his signature string trick!

Zero the Hero with all the grade ones

Zero the Hero gave each student a lifesaver (shaped like a zero, of course!)

After Zero the Hero left (he needed to visit some other students in different schools), we began collecting our special 100 Day snack.  Students chose 10 groups of 10 different foods and put them on a 100 chart.

Students counting 10 items into their cups.

100 snacks!

Eating snacks at storytime.

Our next task was to display our 100 Day Collections.  Each student had brought 100 things to school in a small paper bag.  Students were challenged to think of a way they could show their collection in equal groups. 

10 groups of 10 marshmallows

2 groups of 50 beads

10 groups of 10 elastics

10 groups of 10 pink, purple and blue buttons!

10 groups of 10 black beans

10 rows of 10 pennies

10 groups of 10 popcorn seeds

After lunch and recess, it was DEAR time.  The children read for 10 minutes and then counted how many books were read altogether.  We read 197 books in 10 minutes!  Wow!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing our Center Activities:  making fruit loop necklaces (with 100 fruit loops), playing Roll to 100, graphing 100 mini M and Ms, and making a design with 100 pattern blocks.

Students worked in groups to do the center activities.

Students sorted, then counted 100 M and Ms and made a graph to show how many of each colour there were.

Students worked with a partner to play Roll to 100

Everyone with their Fruit Loop necklaces and 100 Day glasses!